Gladiators
by StyxBlade
Summary: One kid. One team. One school. One chance. A failure means the end of what she worked so hard to bring to life, and she doesn't know if she can deal with that. One cyndaquil, one dream, one tournament, one goal. She knows she'll have to put everything on the line to win, and somehow she finds herself unafraid. It's her day and their time to shine. They are the gladiators.
Amidst the terrified crowd anxiously watching, she found herself clinging to everyone and anyone nearby. Tears were pouring out of her eyes as she wailed out in fright. She felt the strong arms of her best friend, and she put her face into the crease of his elbow. She felt his tear drops hit her back, and it only made her cry harder.

She broke herself away to take a fear-filled look at the stage. There her friend laid, limp and still. The friend had fallen a great height from the battle stage. She could hear all of the murmurings around her, all of the alarmed words. She could hear the whispers of rumored death. She forced herself to banish those thoughts and prayed to Arceus high above that her friend would be okay.

The referee gave a worried look towards the fallen pokémon, but shrugged and disregarded it. He had a job to do.

"Riolu is unable to battle!" he yelled above the chatter of the crowd. "Electabuzz is the winner! Garnet Team has no more battlers; therefore, Viridian Team is the winner!" Roars of excitement screamed out, but all she could see is the riolu's unmoving figure being carried off on a stretcher. She wailed again and cried.

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Mrs. Brax paced back and forth, pinching the bridge of her nose. Stress was getting to the azumarill, and the looming burden of paying for her fallen battler fell upon the school. She had just received a strict talking-to from the school board and the principal. "What were you thinking?!" they had howled at her face. "That battle tournament is far beyond the level of a middle school like ours! What were you thinking?!"

She did not want to deliver the news to her students or even to accept it herself; Samantha, the riolu, was in the hospital and in a comatose state. In addition, two of her other students had been battered to the point of needing serious medical assistance, and the rest seemed to be traumatized. It was all her fault, she thought. There was only one way for Mrs. Brax to go now.

The azumarill walked out the door and entered the stage, where the clamoring of the students waiting below echoed as if a zubat used supersonic. As soon as they sighted her, however, the room fell eerily silent. Her shiftry partner, Mr. Leaffin, waited for her to take the microphone and speak. She could feel his golden eyes staring at her, then at the students. Everyone knew that something important was about to pass.

Mrs. Brax cleared her throat. "Ladies...and gentlemon." She gave a brief pause. "As you know, we recently lost in a landslide battle in the first round of the Singing Entei Regionals. Due to massive damage sustained to multiple members of the students, high costs for the medical bills of said students, and pending lawsuits, the Garnet Battle Team will now cease to exist. This will be the final meeting."

For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop. The students then exploded. Loud arguments, indignant yells, and horrified looks ran rampant among the crowd. The azumarill could see the fury and the disappointment and every other emotion etched upon their faces. She cleared her throat again, intending to take control of the situation, but Mr. Leaffin stepped in.

"Qui- _et_!" the shiftry bellowed. As if a switch had been flipped off, the students were quiet. Their anxious and incensed faces stared up, waiting for Mrs. Brax to continue.

"I understand that many of you are upset with this development, but we simply cannot allow any student to be put in such danger again. If anyone has any questions, they may email Mr. Leaffin or myself. Now-" the azumarill found herself cut off from a yell from a student.

"Where's Sam?!" a cyndaquil demanded. Mrs. Brax could feel the heated glare from her star battler. The students started talking again, many others also demanding Samantha's – or Sam, as she liked to be called – status. The azumarill gulped. She knew they would be enraged.

"I cannot give that information, Jane," Mrs. Brax said, keeping her face neutral. The cyndaquil – Jane – released the smallest of growls, a tiny rumble in her throat.

"Why not?!" another student yelled. This one was a pikachu. Mrs. Brax was startled; he was typically calm and reserved. Not hotheaded. "We know where Apollo and Erik are, and they weren't hurt half as badly as she was! Where is Sam?!"

The azumarill felt her mouth go dry, and she did not know how to respond. She started to speak, but no words would come out. The students were angry and they wanted an answer now.

"She is in the hospital," Mr. Leaffin said, an icy undertone to his voice. He stared at the students with a cold gaze. "Yelling at Mrs. Brax will not make her recover any faster. She and I will not answer any more questions. Dismissed."

Some of the students ran out of the battle room on the spot, and Mrs. Brax could hear them swearing with words that they should not have known for ten more years. A few more lingered, glaring, before taking their items and leaving. She saw Jane whispering to another one her stars, an oshawott – Drew, she recalled – and she saw a mournful look from the cyndaquil casted her way. Jane sighed, and she and Drew left the room. She saw the pikachu was the only one left, staring at the floor.

He blinked, gave a sigh, and slung his backpack over his shoulder, ready to leave. Mrs. Brax remembered his name; he was an exceptional battler and academic powerhouse. Percival, it was. The pikachu did not look at her as he left the room, leaving her alone with Mr. Leaffin.

"I'm sorry," she heard the shiftry say. Mrs. Brax casted him an odd look.

"Why are you apologizing?" the azumarill asked.

"I got angry and frustrated with the students. They don't know what you're dealing with," Mr. Leaffin responded.

The azumarill shrugged. "If I were them, I know I would be that angry. It is not easy to deal with, but I understand their perspectives. In the end, there is not anything I can do, however," she said. Mr. Leaffin was silent at that. The two gazed out at the empty stage, and Mrs. Brax realized that they would never be another battle team practicing their techniques on it.

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The room was a clean white, untainted and unnatural. A riolu lay on the hospital bed, a half dozen strange tubes connected to her just to keep her alive. She could hear the nurses outside the room, whispering about her imminent demise. She was supposed to die. Maybe she should have been more upset. No such remorse coursed through her veins.

They thought she was unaware and comatose. She pitied them and their lack of understanding. They did not know the full strength of her Aura abilities. She would survive, if she was clever and careful. She had to remain patient.

Idly, she wondered how her team was doing. She was concerned, but figured they would only be emboldened by her fall and ready to avenge her in the overseas Tohjo Tourney. The riolu knew her team, and knew they did not stop fighting until forced to by all those around them.

For now, though, she would wait. Then, she would return, and they would battle like the great Gym conquerors of old.


End file.
